MONTEVIDEO - A strong offense and steady serving allowed New London-Spicer to win its 11th straight match Thursday as the Wildcats swept Redwood Valley 25-22, 25-18, 25-20 in the Section 3AA-North championship.
NLS, the North’s No. 1 seed, will take a 25-5 record into Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. section final against South champion Marshall (22-9) at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. The Wildcats are playing for a section title for the first time since 2009, where they claimed the Section 6AA title to advance to the state tournament.
Sydney Stone, who committed to continue her playing career at St. Cloud State University next fall, collected 16 kills after misfiring on just three attacks in 31 attempts. Kabrie Weber added seven kills, five blocks and four ace serves.
NLS setter Espi Austvold piled up 32 assists as five Wildcats averaged at least one kill a game. Megan Thorson had four kills with Erin Tebben and Brennah Bergh added three more each.
NLS 3, Redwood Valley 0
Redwood Valley (24-6) 22 18 20
NLS (25-5) 25 25 25
(Key: good-attempts-aces)
Redwood Valley
Statistics not available
New London-Spicer
Serving: Sydney Stone 10-12-1, Kaitlyn Bergh 11-11-0, Kabrie Weber 13-15-4, Alyssa Fredrick 20-21-2, Espi Austvold 5-7-0, Carley Cronen 7-8-0 … Set assists: Austvold 32, Cronen 2 … Hitting: Stone 28-31-16, K. Bergh 1-1-0, Weber 15-21-7, Fredrick 1-1-1, Austvold 2-2-0, Megan Thorson 12-13-4, Erin Tebben 8-9-3, Brennah Bergh 12-13-3, Cronen 1-1-0 … Blocking (aces): Weber 5, Austvold 1, Tebben 1 … Digs (5 or more): Stone 5, K. Bergh 5, Weber 5, Austvold 6, Cronen 6
